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The Island-Banished Noblewoman - Chapter 36
🕑 Added 2024-10-06 06:39:27 +0000 UTCDay 51 of Banishment: Weapons and Armor (2)
And so, Marylia began making flaked stone tools.
She could have asked the golems to do this too… but this task was far too difficult for Terracotta Golems.
After all, what’s required to craft obsidian into stone tools is the ability to make judgments in the moment.
How you strike it determines how it will break. You have to read the grain of the stone and know which direction to apply force to chip off specific areas. All of this must be carefully considered while striking the obsidian precisely to chip it down and shape it into a blade.
Unfortunately, this complex process is beyond the abilities of Terracotta Golems.
"Alright, then… oh no, it broke too much~ geez~"
… Incidentally, even for Marylia, making flaked stone tools was a difficult endeavor!
When she strikes the stone, the parts she doesn’t want to break end up breaking! While it’s troublesome if the stone doesn’t break at all, breaking too much is an even bigger problem!
"I wonder how many will survive this process… sigh."
She sighed as she looked at the obsidian she accidentally split in two. It was a beautifully glossy black, but beauty alone wasn’t enough. It needed to function as a proper blade.
"... Let’s give it another try. Next, next!"
Marylia quickly shook off the setback and began striking the next piece of obsidian. Surely, after enough trial and error, she would get it right. At least, for some of them.
Meanwhile, next to Marylia, the golems were grinding stones against other stones, crafting spear tips through abrasion. Even though polished stone tools weren’t as sharp, as long as the tips could pierce flesh, Marylia figured that brute strength could be used to forcefully drive them into monsters.
… Given the ability to mass-produce, it might be better to focus on making polished stone spears. Marylia found herself leaning towards that idea, struggling as she was with the flaked stone tools.
"Ahh~ finally made one…"
As the evening approached, Marylia finally managed to complete one obsidian spear tip.
The quality might not have been great, but it was functional as a blade. When she tested it by slicing through a nearby plant stem, it cut through cleanly with a satisfying swish. The sharpness was on par with a metal knife, bringing a smile to Marylia’s face.
"Now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, I’ll be able to make more tomorrow~ Ehehe."
With a smile, Marylia headed home to prepare dinner… It’s nice to have a home!
The next day. Day 52 of the banishment.
"Alright, let’s make some more stone tools!"
After finishing breakfast, Marylia immediately started striking obsidian again, eager to make more flaked tools.
She was getting the hang of how to break the obsidian.
She could now somewhat read the grain of the stone and understand how to strike it in order to get it to break the way she wanted.
Once she had roughly shaped the stone, it was more about chipping off small pieces rather than breaking larger chunks… At this point, it was about tiny adjustments—filing and flaking off little bits to refine the shape.
Obsidian, being glass-like, would fracture cleanly when force was applied to a single point, creating a shell-like break. By carefully applying these breaks, Marylia would "peel off" thin flakes from the obsidian block.
As she created more fractures, the shape of the obsidian gradually came together. Once the edges were sharpened, the spear tip would be complete!
"Hehe, I’m getting better at this."
Feeling proud of her progress, Marylia continued to chip away at the obsidian, creating flaked stone tools bit by bit.
… Obsidian is beautiful. This glossy black stone shines brightest when held up to sunlight to check the thickness.
"It’s so pretty."
The thinner parts, sharpened to be blades, were translucent when held up to the light. The completed spear tips were thin and sharp near the edges, while the center remained dark and solid. This kind of beauty was rare.
"Maybe someday I’ll try turning these into jewelry."
Marylia mused about the idea of crafting the obsidian into something wearable, though that was something she would consider once she had the luxury of working with metal.
And so, Marylia spent the entire day breaking obsidian while the golems continued to grind and polish stones to create their own stone tools. By the end of the day, the golems had completed as many polished stone spear tips as there were golems.
"Well then, let's attach a handle and finish it off."
… And so, the small blade Marylia had made needed to be transformed into a spear!
Attaching the blade to the tip of a stick was no easy task.
There were various methods to consider, but Marylia decided to split the end of a stick, insert the blade, apply adhesive, and then tightly reinforce it by wrapping it with string.
Now, about that "adhesive"…
"There sure are a lot of conifer trees by the shore. Hehe."
Marylia had made her way to the seaside. While gathering rosemary branches, which were starting to run low, she found what she was looking for.
"Here it is, pine resin!"
… It was resin that had seeped from the trunk of a pine tree growing in the rough coastal land, hardened and solidified!
The pine resin Marylia was now scraping off the tree was a translucent yellow substance, hard as a rock but faintly allowing light to pass through.
When a pine tree creates resin to heal its wounds, the fresh sap starts as a sticky liquid, but it eventually hardens into a solid form like this.
Pine resin has many uses. For example, it's applied to the bows of string instruments, something Marylia also did. Pine resin burns well and maintains fire, making it useful for lighting. If mixed with beeswax, it creates a flexible, strong sealant—perfect for sealing wax.
And this pine resin could also be used as an adhesive. Marylia was gathering it for that very purpose.
"This should be enough, I think."
After collecting all the pine resin she could find, Marylia peeked into her bowl, smiled, and thought, "This should do."
Back at her base, Marylia placed the small bowl filled with pine resin over a small flame in the furnace… As it heated, the resin began to melt into a gooey liquid!
"Oh, it looks a bit like slime, doesn’t it?"
The melting resin reminded Marylia of the slimes she kept near her fields. When slimes were relaxed, their shapes became softer. This thought made her chuckle.
While watching the resin melt, Marylia started crushing some leftover charcoal into a fine powder.
Once the charcoal powder was ready, she slowly sprinkled it into the fully melted resin.
… This is how pine resin adhesive is made. Pine resin by itself is too soft, but by mixing in charcoal powder, it becomes sturdy enough to act as glue.
“Alright, it’s done~"
Smiling brightly at her freshly made adhesive, Marylia immediately set to work assembling the spear!
She split the end of a strong, straight branch, coated it with pine resin adhesive, and inserted the flaked stone spearhead.
Then, she tightly bound the area with string to further secure it and applied more adhesive over the string to solidify it.
"Oh my, it worked quite well. Once this adhesive hardens, it becomes really solid, hehe."
… The pine resin adhesive had cooled and hardened so much that a "clink" could be heard when tapped. This would be enough to keep the spearhead firmly attached to the branch.
"Let's make more like this!"
Feeling delighted, Marylia smiled as she made more and more spears, enjoying the process.
… Thus, preparations to arm the golems continued steadily!
The next day. Day 53 of the banishment.
"Now that the weapons are ready, I suppose I should work on some armor next…"
As Marylia watched the golems standing in line holding their newly made spears, she began thinking about the next thing she wanted to make.
It was armor… While armor wouldn’t be much use to the golems, as they could break from impacts, it would be very useful for Marylia herself.
For example, gauntlets could protect her hands from injury. Her hands, after all, were her most important tools on this deserted island.
"I’d love to make some leather armor at least…"
Marylia considered her resources.
"I have… the pelts from the peryton’s legs, which I haven’t processed yet. I was planning to use them for winter clothes, but… there’s not enough for armor. So…"
Muttering to herself, she calculated and pondered… and then smiled.
"… I guess it's time to go hunting. Ehehe…"
The strong prey upon the weak. And as the strong devour the weak, they grow even stronger and hunt even mightier foes…
This world is survival of the fittest. Marylia was determined to feast on the weak of this island and grow ever stronger!
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